Captain's Blog

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Bloggy Bits

What if Google Knew Who You Were Talking About... and Told Them?

Random musing of the day: Google knows a huge amount about what web sites
you visit, when, and what you looked at. Would it be okay with
you if Google also told the owner of those web sites who you are and each time
you visited and what you did there?

Apparently LinkedIn does this.

Is it just me who thinks that's creepy? Would it be okay if Google did this?

It strikes me as very P.K.Dick-ian, and not in a pleasant way: "Hey, Pat, Google Mind Reader here, wanted to let you know that Sandy Smith was just thinking about you. Click here to see what they were thinking."

I don't use LinkedIn hardly at all, since I'm neither looking for a
job nor hiring. (Knowing this, I'll visit even less.) Someone else
mentioned this offhand on facebook, and not in a way that indicated this
level of privacy invasion bothered them.
(The actual question was, "If somebody you always liked doing business stops by your LinkedIn profile but doesn't leave a message, and you're unemployed at the moment, it's okay to send a quick and cheerful hello, right? It's not creepy unless you ask them for something, right?" The replies
were generally of the nature of, "I wouldn't say it's creepy even if you DO ask for something." No? We have so little concept of privacy and personal space
now that we should expect everyone to know everything we do and think?)

Would it be okay if Google told web site owners where you were each time you visited?

Would it be okay if Google took it a step further, and posted your
entire browsing history publicly to the world, with your name and contact
info on it?